Elephant Builder

Bellwether Collaboratory helps people solving complex problems reach across sector divides and create a shared vision for impact. Our app, the Elephant Builder, guides stakeholders through a collaborative process to build a causal model of the system they’re trying to change—a collective perspective that integrates expertise across domains and can provide novel insight. The app analyzes the co-created model’s structure to reveal effective targets for system-level interventions, and can visualize the downstream effects of any proposed action. Participants use this shared map to identify strategies and prioritize adaptive actions.

What we do

Bellwether facilitators work with you to invite diverse stakeholders to the table. We introduce systems thinking and our step-by-step method, building a comprehensive understanding together by connecting our individual points of view. We end the workshop by looking at the dynamics of the system as a whole, helping the group interpret model outputs to identify root causes, leverage points, and options for collaborative solutions.